PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2005
PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2005JUNE 16, 2005
Dr. Henry Johnson, former DPI Associate Superintendent for Instructional and Accountability Services and the current Mississippi State Superintendent, has been nominated by President Bush to be the next Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education. In his nomination, President Bush mentioned Dr. Johnson's successful career as a professional educator, including service as a public school teacher, principal, middle school director and state education leader. Dr. Johnson's nomination also reflects the many successes that he led in North Carolina, and I am pleased that our state will have "one of its own" in such a strong national leadership role.
Regards,
June Atkinson
State Board to Meet Later This Month
The State Board of Education will hold its June/July meeting June 29-30 in Asheville. Wednesday's meeting will be held from 2-5:45 p.m. at the Grove Park Inn; and Thursday's meeting will be held from 8:30 - 11 a.m. at the Asheville City Schools' Administrative Office. Agenda items include an Issues Session on a report from the E-Learning Commission, as well as action on school calendar waiver requests, possible identification of persistently dangerous schools, and a proposed policy for parent/family involvement. Discussion items include a policy for delineating the test development process for the North Carolina Writing Assessment. The complete agenda is available online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbe_meetings/ by clicking on the appropriate link.
SBE Ad Hoc Committee for Academic Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships Meeting Summary
The SBE Ad Hoc Committee for Academic Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships met in Raleigh on Thursday, June 2. The committee's initial discussions focused on the group's concern regarding the need to communicate clearly the necessity for strong intervention and remediation for students who do not pass the five End of Course tests required for high school graduation. Personalized education plans (PEPs) are required for all students who do not score at Level III or IV and identifies the needs of students for improvement and strategies to meet their needs. Another agenda topic centered on the idea of adding a new performance level - Achievement Level V. Gongshu Zhang presented information to the group on this topic. One of the committee's concerns has been the perceived lack of progress among some Level III and Level IV students. Most committee members agreed that it is important to focus on why children in Level IV are not growing. General discussion also acknowledged that raising standards to improve student achievement has implications now for whether or not schools/systems make Adequate Yearly Progress. The group's discussion on this matter did not result in a consensus at this time regarding the addition of a new Level V. William Darrity, of UNC's Center for Population Studies, also shared information on a report of a case study titled "Closing the Achievement Gap by Increasing Access to the AIG (Academically &Intellectually Gifted) Program" that took place at Southwest elementary school in Durham. The study shows how minority students improve in academic performance when exposed to the curriculum for Academically and Intellectually Gifted students.
NCLB Issues Packets Coming Soon
This summer, packets designed for school and district personnel dealing with NCLB issues including public school choice, supplemental educational services, corrective action, Title I LEA Improvement, announcing AYP results, and "Highly Qualified" teachers will be posted on the Web at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb and linked from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/schoolimprovement/comped/. For each topic, the packets will include sample parent materials, key messages for school and district administrators, PowerPoint presentations, fact sheets and FAQ's. The sample parent materials should help districts in meeting NCLB law requirements in as parent-friendly manner as possible.
After two years of development, the new LEARN NC Web site will go live June 20. Resources are better integrated so easier to find, a guided search provides quick and precise access, and redesigned student areas facilitate online research. In addition, LEARN NC is offering an exciting opportunity for life sciences teachers and two new sets of resources on reading, writing and ESL. Read about these initiatives and more by going to the LEARN NC Web site at www.learnnc.org.
The 2005-06 Kids In Need Teacher Grant applications will be available online from the School, Home,& Office Products Association in mid July. The purpose of the grants is to provide funds for classroom teachers who have innovative, meritorious ideas, but lack the budget to bring them to life. Grants range from $100 - $500. Typically 170-200 grants are awarded each year. The deadline to apply is Sept. 30. For more information, please go online to http://www.shopa.org/shopa_foundation/teacher_programs.php